I haven’t tried to bring in the store products, simply because if people are paying, as long as the EULA is followed, whatever use they want to give it, I should be fine: I have been compensated for it already. If I don’t like the EULA I have the option to lobby DAZ (or wherever it is I am selling) to alter it, or release on my own site with my own EULA. Simple.

The discussion has centred fully into freebies because those are the ones where the “not for commercial use” issue keeps cropping up, and where there are discussions on what that means exactly; I have yet to see any commercially released product that has it.

As I see it, in this case you may have more controle over your freebies than your store stuff.

Yeah, that´s how I see it too. You can use a freebie for non-commercial projects only but a bought item from the same author can be used for anything you like (I mean renders, not mesh distribution here). Where is the logic of this? What is so special about the freebies, why are they more worth to the author than the items s/he offers for sale? I would understand when some authors don´t want people to use any of their stuff in commercial renders, but when they say it is okay for a bought item but not okay for a freebie item, I don´t get it. Shouldn´t they be equally bothered by the commercial use of their products in either case?

Lets say that some vendor who makes characters wants his or her products to be used only for serious art. But then someone makes some really naughty renders with this vendor´s items and puts those renders on sale. Will the author of these items be less enraged if all items used in those renders are not freebies but bought products with commercial use allowed?

Also, ShareCg is a bit strange concerning this. I encountered several items there which are labeled as “All rights reserved” (according to ShareCg rules this means you cannot even download them) but in the description it is written that both non-commercial and commercial use is allowed. Just weird.

I don’t download non-commercial use freebies. It just saves me time. Its not like I’ve ever sold anything yet… But, I don’t want to have to remember the license for every item I dl and use for an image.

Problem is, sometimes it just isn’t clear. For example, some people on ShareCG, have items listed as available for: “Personal and Commercial use.” category. but there is no definition of that. Does that mean its okay for commercial use? Then why not use that category since one assumes personal use is ok.

Rendo also can be sketchy. I’ve seen folks have their item listed as commercial use in the splash screen, but when I read the readme, it says zoinks, can’t personal use only.

I wish there was a better way to simply have a commercial use section. I don’t even want to see the non-commercial use freebies. =0

I am very meticulous about respecting a person’s copyright and wishes. However, if it gets too complicated, I usually just delete the item.

I don’t understand a lot of the freebies being non-commercial. Sometimes there’s no way to buy the freebie for commercial use too. If you go through the trouble of making a 3D model and upload it to the internet to share, why would you not allow anybody to use it for anything? How often is it really that people just play with making 3D models for “personal use”? Yeah, if you’re going to practice with a tutorial or technique, then I can see needing something to test stuff out on but many freebies I’ve seen are seemingly built to be used for elaborate projects and I just can’t imagine anybody putting so much time and effort into something they can’t show anybody or use to get work. Why even upload the freebie at all?

Just to share an experience I’ve had recently, I’ve bought magazines like Imagine FX, 3D World, and 3D Artist for years and they come with CDs/DVDs filled with extra content, usually from DAZ and certain other places like Turbosquid and CGAxis. Well, on occasion they’ll have exclusive items from artists and certain boutique places and they’re listed as commercial use on the interactive menu screen. When downloaded, if you look at the Readme and License files of some of them, they’re listed as non-commerical use only. So, this presents an interesting question, if the magazine lists the product as commercial use in their program yet the model’s licensing says the opposite, who is held accountable when the models are used in a commercial product? Surely the magazine would have had to make sure that the models were commercial use unless they didn’t do their due diligance and contact the artist/business to make sure. But then again, perhaps the magazine received special permission to offer the model for commercial use to its reader base, which then brings up the question of proving who received the model from the magazine and who downloaded it from elsewhere. Surely if that were the case, it would have been listed somewhere on the disc or in a Readme somewhere.

In the end, it’s just easier to avoid non-commercial model downloads at all costs. If you’ve downloaded any freebies, do like many have already said and look over all of the documentation that they come with to make sure that it’s okay to use before adding it to your Runtime folder.

I don’t understand a lot of the freebies being non-commercial. Sometimes there’s no way to buy the freebie for commercial use too. If you go through the trouble of making a 3D model and upload it to the internet to share, why would you not allow anybody to use it for anything? How often is it really that people just play with making 3D models for “personal use”? Yeah, if you’re going to practice with a tutorial or technique, then I can see needing something to test stuff out on but many freebies I’ve seen are seemingly built to be used for elaborate projects and I just can’t imagine anybody putting so much time and effort into something they can’t show anybody or use to get work. Why even upload the freebie at all?

Just to share an experience I’ve had recently, I’ve bought magazines like Imagine FX, 3D World, and 3D Artist for years and they come with CDs/DVDs filled with extra content, usually from DAZ and certain other places like Turbosquid and CGAxis. Well, on occasion they’ll have exclusive items from artists and certain boutique places and they’re listed as commercial use on the interactive menu screen. When downloaded, if you look at the Readme and License files of some of them, they’re listed as non-commerical use only. So, this presents an interesting question, if the magazine lists the product as commercial use in their program yet the model’s licensing says the opposite, who is held accountable when the models are used in a commercial product? Surely the magazine would have had to make sure that the models were commercial use unless they didn’t do their due diligance and contact the artist/business to make sure. But then again, perhaps the magazine received special permission to offer the model for commercial use to its reader base, which then brings up the question of proving who received the model from the magazine and who downloaded it from elsewhere. Surely if that were the case, it would have been listed somewhere on the disc or in a Readme somewhere.

In the end, it’s just easier to avoid non-commercial model downloads at all costs. If you’ve downloaded any freebies, do like many have already said and look over all of the documentation that they come with to make sure that it’s okay to use before adding it to your Runtime folder.

If the 3D models are free to distribute I don’t see where the problem is. The main goal of a magazine is to provide something to read to their readers. The additional bonus contents may not be seen as a commercial use in a court as that is not what they use to make profit. And I think that it could also be seen as for educational purpose. If their main activity was to sell CD with contents, it would be illegal. And if someone use the provided content for commercial use, then this person could be sued.

To answer also to the why free and no commercial use, the answer has been given : to avoid people making profit of something freely distibuted. There is also more. The “spirit of free”. When releasing something free I guess some people also want all derivative work to be free so that it can have a life of it’s own. So that even if the original author doesn’t update the product, it could be updated by someone else. That is the case for many open source project.

There is also the case of people making freebies derivated from well known people/series/comics/etc. Let’s say someone makes a freebie model of a star trek spaceship. I think that the freebie maker may already have infringed the law but this practice is tolerated by the owner of the copyright as there is no profit. But tell me could the freebie maker give the right to make commercial use of a copyrighted material? Thus the non commercial use licence. It’s just a fan made freebie for the fans and that’s all

To the question of rendering, I’m not a lawyer, but there is something about derivative work and transformative work in the laws, but even though, that is not very easy to give a an answer after reading it. I guess the best thing to do is eventually to contact the freebie maker

The items are marked “Non-commercial use” but this is the Google translation of the ReadMe…

Use restriction
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
No copyright. Without the right. No responsibility creator. No plans to upgrade.
Not supported.
Other than to resell this data, OK even if what

I keep meaning to ask my sister-in-law for a ‘good’ translation…considering she’s a ‘native speaker’ I think I should be able to get a better translation than Google’s…

But, to me, as it stands, it looks like ‘non-commercial’ in this case refers to reselling the original mesh/textures. (Norinori makes some VERY nice clothing…but tends to be under used, as far as I can tell, because of the very confusing terms of use…)

A ‘uniform’ EULA for freebies would be a good idea, but trying to come up with one that will stand across multiple jurisdictions will be an exercise that would turn a very hairy guy into a chrome dome in no time. None of the CC licenses really ‘fit’, because they allow for the redistribution of the original mesh/work, most requiring credit be given.

For my stuff, I don’t really care what someone uses it for…just don’t resell the original. (And as far as it goes, I don’t have the resources to go after someone who does…yeah, it would make me mad, but not a whole lot I could really do. And even if I did get something, the likelihood of getting any cash out the deal is slim to none…the best is getting the item taken down/person banned).

And technically…for this month’s Freebie Contest, there should be no prizes…because, the theme is deeply into that definite commercial no-no of ‘fanart’. Because, even if there are no gift certs or cash involved, the prize still has a value and in some jurisdictions can/will be considered ‘profit’...

I am not sure why you have brought the longrunning Freebie challenge into this, but even the prizes in the freebie challenge are for the most part “feebies” inasmuch as for the most part they are given by people who have made them purely for this challenge, they are not freely distributed in any form. The freebie challenge is all about using freebies, the more the merrier.

I brought it in, because the theme, this month is “TV”, which, by default means ‘fanart’...which means ‘NON-COMMERCIAL’m mainly to illustrate the ‘murkiness’ of the whole thing. Contests, as defined earlier in this thread are ‘commercial’ usage, and if there were a gift cert prize, then things would become extremely murky. Even if most of the items in the render were allowable for commercial usage, some, especially for certain shows (like most anime and Trek) will have to include some items that probably shouldn’t be used ‘commercially’.

The freebie challenge was originally started as a Challenge to prove that it was possible to create a render without using anything that had been purchased. Daz 3D sort of spoiled it a bit when the gen 4 figures reverted to being paid for items, until that stage it was possible to make the whole image without one “commercial” item in it.

The freebie challenge was originally started as a Challenge to prove that it was possible to create a render without using anything that had been purchased. Daz 3D sort of spoiled it a bit when the gen 4 figures reverted to being paid for items, until that stage it was possible to make the whole image without one “commercial” item in it.

Still missing my point…

1. It is a contest.

2. The renders, as defined earlier in the thread, are ‘commercial’ usage of items.

3. In particular, this month’s theme is promoting ‘commercial’ usage of items that should technically be used ‘non-commercially’.

The freebie challenge was originally started as a Challenge to prove that it was possible to create a render without using anything that had been purchased. Daz 3D sort of spoiled it a bit when the gen 4 figures reverted to being paid for items, until that stage it was possible to make the whole image without one “commercial” item in it.

Still missing my point…

1. It is a contest.

2. The renders, as defined earlier in the thread, are ‘commercial’ usage of items.

3. In particular, this month’s theme is promoting ‘commercial’ usage of items that should technically be used ‘non-commercially’.

It is a Challenge The Prizes are all made by Freebie providers, most months. It really shouldn’t be judged alongside Contests with Prized with monetary value, just to prove a point. Honestly.

With regasards to this point please remember that I am posting this as a forum member, not wearing my other hat, as I am one of the freebie providers that often gives prizes for this challenge